1. Two's Company, One's Affordable
One Child or Two?
By staff reporter L
THE one-child policy, sternly administered since the late 1970s, has successfully controlled the birthrate in
world's most populous country. Among the privileged few that are exempt from the policy are spouses that
themselves single children. Couples in this category are now of an age to start a family. This raises two que
will they act upon their franchised right to a second child? And if so, does this presage an alarming surge in
birthrate?
Second Child Advocacy
“ The family planning policy allows two children for husbands and wives that are both the only child in the
respective families. We hope all such couples will indeed decide to have a second child,” states Li Yunli , d
chief of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Population and Family Planning. Li's opportune reiteration o
almost forgotten aspect of the Chinese family planning policy and encouragement to eligible couples to pro
based on the demographic assumption that four-person family units will allay the potential threat of a
disproportionately large “gray” population in the capital.
This policy amendment provides a priviliged alternative to adult single-child couples across the nation, one
Xiao Yang, 28, and his wife. “We want two children, ideally a boy and a girl,” says Xiao. He and his wife a
agreed that no child of theirs should be subjected to the loneliness of growing up without sibling companio
that they both experienced.
In a survey carried out by Sina.com of 6,007 single children, born from 1980 to 1989, 61.3 percent lamente
absence of a sibling during childhood with whom to share the joys and sorrows of growing up. A further 66
percent had lived in hopes that their parents would have more children. The aching solitude they experience
throughout their childhood, which in many cases persisted through to adulthood, made 46.1 percent of resp
firm in their resolve to have two children.
But there are other, more practical reasons for wanting a second child. Cheng Jun of Beijing has two brothe
the elder of two daughters. She is thus bound to abide by the one-child policy, which is a source of great wo
explains, “The responsibility for taking care of our parents is shared by all four of us. But when I grow old,
daughter will be expected to take care of her in-laws as well as my husband and me. It will be a heavy burd
her and her husband.” This is a common predicament for adult single children.
Second Child Jitters
From January to July 2006, 7,100 single children born in the 1980s -- 6,100 women and 1,000 men -- out o
Guangzhou's 300,000 one-child households joined in the ranks of happy newlyweds in the province's eight
districts. Among them there were nearly 900 single-child couples that were eligible to have two children. T
could reasonably be expected to augur a rise in the southern city's urban population. Yet a negligible propo
such couples actually apply for permission to have two children , according to XieAnguo , deputy chief of t
Guangzhou Municipal Population and Birth Control Department. Xie confirms, “Few of the couples that fu

2. criteria to have two children take up this privilege. Many don't want children at all, often for economic reas
Based on his observations, Xie is doubtful whether the opportunity available to single-child couples to incr
their families will make any appreciable difference to Guangzhou's, or China's, birthrate.
The sad fact of the matter is that these days, children are one of life's greatest luxuries. Since giving birth to
nine months ago, Lanzhi now longs for a daughter. But unless a win on the lottery or some other windfall c
her way, she must be content to be the mother of one. Lanzhi's pregnancy and delivery cost her RMB 10,00
pays out more than RMB 500 each month for milk and other nutrients and RMB 1,200 for a nanny. Taking
account clothes, diapers and other necessities, her monthly baby bills exceed RMB 2,000 -- more or less he
salary. And these expenses will take a huge leap once her son starts school.
In a Sina.com on-line poll survey of 20,000 couples in the relevant age group, “financial pressure” was the
cited by 66.89 percent of respondents for opting to have just one child. Research carried out by the Guangz
Municipal Population and Birth Control Department also revealed exorbitant costs as the main reason why
single-child couples stop short of having a second child. This is understandable in view of the results of a s
sociologist XuAnqi of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. Professor Xu concludes that raising a chi
city's downtown Xuhui District costs, on average, RMB 490,000. When this figure was quoted to couples w
children in a cross section of medium and large cities, it was affirmed as actual as well as projected.
Other reasons for reluctance to reproduce that emerged in the Guangzhou Municipal Population and Birth C
Department survey were pressure to “keep up with the Joneses” and the desire to prolong marital romance
freedom. Zhang Jun has been married for three years, and has no immediate plans to reproduce. “How can
provide for a child when we can barely manage by ourselves?” is the argument she and her husband quite p
produce in response to their parents' plaintive yearning for grandchildren. But when taking into account the
lively social life of theaters, nightclubs and weekend excursions with friends, their plea of poverty rings ho
When pressed, Zhang admits: “Once we have a child, all the fun we have now will have to stop. It's a daunt
prospect.”
This attitude comes as no surprise to Prof. Zhou Changhong of the Nanjing Center for Population Program
Management. He cites a survey among people of the relevant age group in Shanghai. Although 40 percent s
they would have a second child, only 20 to 30 percent actually did. Prof. Zhou concludes, “Speaking from
experience, I don't think the birth prerogative for single-child couples will adversely affect the current fami
planning policy. In general, the higher a couple's education and income level, the lower the likelihood of th
wanting more than one child. This phenomenon has been attested worldwide.”
Birth Control Will Remain Vigilant
The decision whether or not to relax the birth control policy is now being taken at provincial government le
Bleak prospects at old age for this new adult section of the population have prompted certain cities to remo
eliminate rulings that hinder eligible couples from having two children. Couples in Shanghai, for instance,
longer required to wait four years after the birth their first child before having a second. Other provinces, ho
have taken the opposite tack. Henan Province has a population of 100 million -- the largest of any other pro
has gone to the extreme of excluding single-child adult couples from the two child criteria.
Couples in the more affluent social sector are, understandably, keen advocates of the second child policy. T
argument is that their second child would benefit from the absence of financial pressure in the household. T

3. also members of the National People's Congress -- the Chinese legislature -- that have raised the controvers
proposal of permitting couples that have been through higher education to have a second child. Li Yunli ,
mentioned above, has publicly refuted the implication of this proposal that couples who have been through
education give birth to more intelligent children. The government is unmoved by both arguments.
There are certain scholars that dismiss the two-child policy as a means of offsetting the problem of the agin
population. Yu Xuejun , a divisional chief at the State Commission of Population and Family Planning, is
particularly skeptical of the benefits of two-child families in this regard. In his view: “The problem of the a
population cannot be solved by producing more children. Higher economic growth and a more effective soc
security system are the answer.”
Couples that qualify for a second child under China's current family planning policy:
1. Spouses, medically fit to procreate, whose first child is diagnosed as disabled and unfit for
everyday labor by a pediatric medical organization above prefecture level.
2. Couples where one spouse has a child from a previous marriage.
3. Couples where both spouses have an only child from previous marriages but both have
relinquished the ir rights to the custody of their respective only children.
4. Spouses that, despite one or both having been diagnosed as infertile by medical or health care
organizations at county level, bear a child after legally adopting one.
5. Spouses who are both the only child of their respective families.
6. Couples where either spouse has worked as a miner or deep-sea diver for five years or more.
7. Couples where both spouses are rural residents and whose first child is a girl.
http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/English/e2007/e200702/p45.htm